


What They're Dealing With

by orphan_account



Category: Artemis Fowl
Genre: After TLG, Amnesia, F/M, Friendship, Lost Memory, stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 08:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3061691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short set after TLG</p><p>Artemis is back, but not in full. He left three parts of himself behind, parts that Captain Holly Short is not sure will ever be recovered.<br/>Of course, she's going to try anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What They're Dealing With

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters contained within, they belong to the amazing Eoin Colfer. 
> 
> This is my first fanfic on this site, hopefully that excuses the (lack of) length and the terrible title. I hope you enjoy!

The boy sat alone in the centre of a spiral of roses.

  
His legs were crossed. The sleeves of his crisp white shirt were rolled up to his elbows. His black hair ruffled in the light breeze, and his dark blue eyes were fixed on the burnt orange rose petal his slim fingers were busy dismantling.

  
The boy was Artemis Fowl the Second: heir to the prestigious wealth of the Fowl Empire; owner of the highest tested IQ in Europe; self-proclaimed criminal mastermind – although he now prefers the term _juvenile genius._

  
Or he _did_ , before he died.

  
Somehow, he then managed to cling on in spirit form for six months before inhabiting a clone of his old body, which had been grown for him by one of his quite literally _underground_ contacts. He looked the same and he sounded the same, but to all his friends and family he wasn't the same. 

There were only three differences between who he was now and who he was before, but those were still obvious to the people that loved him most.

  
One: the hazel fairy eye, or lack thereof, which the cloning of his old body did not duplicate. This was of course due to the fact that it was not originally his. Rather, it had belonged to one Captain Holly Short, before being swapped for his own in a time stream.

  
Two: the clone’s body was a couple of years older than the previous, which meant, factoring in the lost years Artemis spent in the aforementioned time stream, that his body was now, on the surface, the same age as his mind.

  
And three, the rather irritating and crippling absolute lack of any memory whatsoever.

  
(Also he was slightly less, to use the slang term, _sassy_.)

  
‘Good afternoon, Captain Short.’

  
The boy said this seemingly to the ripped-up petal in his palm, though in actuality it was directed at the slight shimmer to his left.

  
‘What are we, strangers?’ asked the green-clad figure that had seemingly stepped out of thin air.

  
A slight smile quirked up the corner of the Fowl heir’s mouth.

  
‘Not according to you.’

  
The small elf removed her helmet, revealing an auburn crew cut and features that were pretty in a pointy sort of way. It also revealed the tail end of an exasperated eye roll.

  
‘Whatever, Fowl.’

  
‘Since when have you referred to me by last name?’

  
‘Since you called me Captain Short.’

  
‘Do not think I am unaware of what you are attempting, Captain Sh…Holly.’

  
Holly gave him a smug smile as she sat in the dirt next to him.

  
‘It worked, didn't it?’

  
‘Oh, ha ha,’ said Artemis drily, throwing away the shreds of rose petal. Unfortunately for his pride, the wind caught them mid-air and blew them backwards.

  
‘That was pathetic.’

  
The Irish boy huffed in exasperation. ‘It was the wind.’

  
‘It’s always the wind.’

  
There was a pause, and Holly’s expression softened as she watched her friend pluck another petal in silence.

  
For six months she hadn't allowed herself a moment of rest, hadn’t allowed herself to wonder for one second if Artemis wouldn’t return. Not for one moment had she entertained the thought that he was truly and irrevocably dead, because accepting that would mean accepting that a part of her was dead as well. So she had thrown herself into work, spending more and more time at Police Plaza in her fierce attempt to squash the niggling doubts that never really left. Her mismatched eyes unfocused as she remembered the long months of denial, of strained hope in an outlandish – not to mention illegal – plan.

  
‘Can you continue the story?’

  
Holly flinched slightly as Artemis’s quiet voice broke shattered her morbid reverie. Something in his tone caused her to glance his way.

  
His gaze was fixed on the new petal in his pale palm. He seemed hesitant, almost shy, and obviously sincere. A side of Artemis Fowl so rare Holly could only recall seeing it once.

  
As the wind tugged at her hair and the roses bobbed all around her, the first female captain of the LEP felt her heart melt like putty.

  
‘The Temple of Artemis exhibit was a scale model that had been constructed with painstaking accuracy, complete with animatronic humans going about their daily business…’

**Author's Note:**

> So there is my first story!  
> I really hope you liked it, and it would be highly appreciated if you would comment feedback, although you don't have to, of course.


End file.
